Tread Lightly
by shadowspinner22
Summary: Taking a last minute bargain to save their lives, the gang wakes up in a world different from theirs, a world terrified of those who can call on the power of Chaos. A world that, until a week ago, they'd believed was their's.
1. Welcome to Mobius, timeline unknown

So instead of a new chapter all I've had time to do is re-write the first one. I've worked in characters that will be needed later though and some confusion should be cleared up

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><p>Now however it was used as a training room, separated into sections. The main one was for drills and target practice (held at different times of course), held on the side farthest from the door in order to be the least interrupted. Others were shoved next to each other and into corners once they were deemed less important, a series of bars that held weights on them that had been found in an adjacent room, a section covered in mats for teamwork drills (which were actually more often used by agents trying to sneak a quick nap in), and a rarely used corner that held horizontal bars of different lengths that no one had ever really been sure of the use for, though they had tried to figure it out. In the very center of the room was a long rope that stretched up to the ceiling, meant as a challenge to strengthen arm muscles. At times everything was shoved to the side (which had created a few groves in the ground from the weights) and 'games' were played with different groups of the underground, some resulting in more injuries than run-ins with bots did.<p>

However neither of the two Mobians were much interested in any of the equipment or activities done in the room, fully focused on the other both unaware when the sirens had started blaring and the red lights had started flashing. They were a strange mirror image almost, not only alike but also flipped. Black eyes common in the royal family stared into the fiery scarlet eyes found only on a Chaos User, and only one at that.

The owner of the black eyes stayed where he was, panting as he tried to catch his breath, keeping focused on the stranger. The stranger had fur the color of the smog at night, with crimson stripes on his quills and limbs like warning signs on a dark road. A fluff of white fur rested on his chest contrasting with the appearance, but at the same time complemented it. Around his wrists and ankles were golden bands that held on his plain white gloves and strange black, red, and white shoes. All in all he had a very foreboding appearance.

The dark hedgehog looked back at the other as well, furrowing his brow when he saw how labored breathing had become. His opponent had dark blue fur covering most of his body except for his chest and arms, an oddity that often showed now-adays, instead they were covered in a light peach fur. Protecting the other's back were six spines much like his own, only all of them pointed towards the ground as if weighed down by gravity. He wore simple white gloves and red shoes with a white stripe. Another oddity considering that most Mobians had begun covering themselves as much as they could in cloths. He was smaller and rounder, apparently not keeping the best diet.

"Are you Sonic?" The darker, older male asked, one of his first sentences since he'd appeared and chased the blue one around the empty room.

"Who wants to know?!" The younger shot back, immediately affirming the fact that, yes, he was Sonic and yes, he had a temper.

"Do you know who I am?" The intruder asked, as he stepped forward and watched Sonic tense up.

"How would I?! You just burst in here!"

Red eyes focused in on Sonic's hand as it travelled towards a silver, strange shaped medallion hanging from his neck. Best to focus on possible threats first, he'd heard what that thing could do. "Your necklace is a strange one. Does it stand for anything?"

His hand faltered for a second before finally reaching up and grabbing it, "It was a present from my mom, and if you don't wanna see what it can do, then you'd better tell me why you're here." He threatened, baring his teeth angrily.

Instead of caving to the threat the stranger took a couple more steps forward, making no threatening motion but still managing to unnerve the other. "It creates a ray of condensed energy that can cut through the hardest metal. Have you ever wondered how it worked though? Where that energy came from?"

The peach jaw clenched and a swirl of blue surrounded his hand as he felt the metal transform into a two handles guitar in his hands, pointing the handles towards the intruder, "Who are ya and what do ya want here? Ya've done yer research."

Hands raised in a peaceful gesture that somehow seemed mocking from the dark stranger, "I actually came here for some answers myself. You never answered my first question, Blue Hedgehog."

The back of his mind tingled at the title but the more conscious part ignored it as he narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the weapon, "If yer not gonna answer me I guess I'll just hafta knock ya out and let one a the leaders deal with ya." And then the end of the guitar glowed a light blue causing red eyes to widen in slight shock before it shot.

Years of reflexes that had once been ingrained shot through him and before he could think the words leapt from his mouth.

Even for the speedy hedgehog that prided himself on being faster than anything, everything happened before he could do anything. The words 'Chaos Spear!' shot through the air and an arrow of blinding golden energy shot from the stranger's hand. It crashed with the beam and there was a brief invisible struggle of power before the beam vaporized and the spear crashed into his weapon, making it turn back into a medallion before shattering. He felt his body spasm before he hit the ground as the energy faded.

Then the door slammed open, the noise echoing over the suddenly silent room where the ebony was staring with shocked red eyes, before turning to face the newcomers. Two more hedgehogs rushed into the room with a cat following behind them. The first, faster one was a dark pink hedgehog with seven spread out quills outlined in a lighter pink, the same lighter pink that colored the fringe of hair that rested between her ears. She was wearing a red leotard with a golden belt and dark purple gloves and boots as clothing. A silver medallion rested on a string around her neck and black eyes quickly took in what was going on.

The second hedgehog was green with peach arms and stomach like Sonic. Only three quills covered the back of his head, but that was more than made up for with the multitude of smaller ones that grew wildly between his ears. He wore simple white gloves and red and white shoes much like the blue one, but instead had opted for also wearing earrings and spikes along with an orange vest and… was that a fanny pack? The same silver medallion and black eyes could be found on him as well.

The third appeared to be a guard that had tagged along. A male blue cat wearing a sci-fi looking red suit and green helmet.

All three pairs of eyes rested on the prostrate Sonic on the floor groaning about a giant truck with saws before turning to the darker stranger. Before anyone could do anything however he had vanished in a blast of wind and a golden streak.

The pink hedgehog, Sonia, quickly instead refocused her attention on her brother and turned towards the guard, "Go alert Cyprus and command about what happened. Manic and I will get Sonic to the infirmary."

Within a few minutes the two were lugging the eldest down the hall towards the clinic.

XXxxXX

Sonia and Manic watched from a couple of chairs set off to the side as the doctor examined their brother. At the moment the dark green duck was holding open a blue eyelid and looking at the eye with a small pen-light, having to regularly dodge small swats from the unconscious hedgehog. After a time and more tests he sighed and stepped back to face them, shaking his head.

"He's going to be unconscious for a little while, but he should be fine; however!" He began, interrupting as the two siblings began to celebrate, "His condition was not caused by the attack, in fact the attack may have saved him. He's been coming in regularly to get pain pills since he was a kid, he's had this headache that's always there except for when he was sleeping and I couldn't pinpoint the reason." He elaborated, before reached a plastic covered hand out and tapping on Manic's medallion, "I think I've found it though. The medallions made out of some sort of metal that's been reacting badly with him, but he's had it so long that he hadn't noticed. The only reason he passed out when it got destroyed and not before was because your medallions have some sort of energy in them that's been keeping him up, I wouldn't be surprised if he's been having trouble sleeping lately. He'll stay in the clinic and I'll keep an eye on him until it's out of his system."

As if on cue Sonic began shivering in the bed causing a nurse that had been standing nearby to rush out of the room and come back in with an old, worn blanket, that none-the-less stopped the shivering.

"You two need to be careful when you're around him now though." Doctor Quack continued, turning back to them with narrowed eyes, "Not only are you still wearing them, but the metal has been absorbed into your own bodies, any body fluids that he touches from you, blood, puke, or even a shared drink, could poison him and send him back here worse." He ended, letting a foreboding feeling come up in the room and causing a chill to run up the twin's spines.

They left later in the evening, driven by hunger and tiredness, leaving Sonic alone with only a nurse coming into the room once in a while to check his IV or replace the blanket when sweat soaked it, his body finally getting a chance to reject the poison.

Around dark the doctor came in and sat in a chair facing the bed, mulling over his choices. He could inform command of what he'd found, or help the hedgehog when he woke up.

One thing was for certain though, when he'd checked his pupils to make sure there was no vision damage it wasn't royal obsidian eyes that stared back at him, no, instead he'd been met by a bright emerald green.

By some chance the medallion had been both hiding and poisoning one of the most powerful Chaos Users he'd ever seen, and now he was stuck with the choice of whether the boy would wake up in the clinic or a cell.

XXxxXX

The scene played out before him like a movie, only it was a strange unnerving one where everything was seen through the eyes of the main character instead of a random passerby. There was pain too; his throbbing arm reminded him that this couldn't be a movie.

He wandered the darkened corridors of the base silently, listening carefully for footsteps. Red lights dully illuminating his path as he trudged on further, watching carefully for the glowing optics that would give away a robot's location so he wouldn't be caught off guard again.

"Sonic." The voice was quiet and deep as he turned towards the caller, wondering how he'd managed to sneak up on him in those metallic shoes of him. They made a soft swishing noise as the other slowly glided towards him, answering his unspoken question quickly. "Where are the others? I thought we were travelling in groups."

"I could ask the same of you." He shot back with a small grin, only dampered a bit by the ignored pain, "Knucklehead thought that the Master Emerald might be able to counter the Chaos Emerald and Tails, ehem, 'borrowed' one of the airships to give him a ride. Where's Rouge and Omega?"

"Rouge is hacking into one of the computers to track down the robot. I lost track of Omega when we passed by one of the rooms where Eggman stores his robots." Almost at that exact moment a loud explosion came from the direction Shadow had come from and Sonic winced as he imagined what happened. "It means less robots to fight and more distractions for the doctor." Shadow muttered with a small smirk before glancing towards the red stained arm, "Speaking of, why is your arm wounded?"

Blue ears folded back and Sonic looked slightly sheepish, "It's kinda dark in here, so I can't really see where the bots are that well…"

He trailed off and Shadow sighed out his nose before… "I understand, we should stick together and keep searching until Rouge contacts me with the location."

XXxxXX

The next few days went slow. Wake up, be bugged by a nurse, asked questions by the Doc, get cold, go back to sleep. It was getting annoying and monotomious. And then it changed.

The room was a light yellow, or some color like it and there was a pale light shining in through the closed window, the moon hidden behind smog like always. Nearby him was an IV stand that he'd refused to use once he was awake enough and somewhere nearby was the heart monitor. Standing next to his bed was something, or rather someone, different from usual. A tall, full-grown, female cat, with black fur and green eyes like his own. She was wearing a light purple shirt that had two flaps hanging to the side and one covering her front. Like many females, at least from his memories, she wore two golden cuffs around her wrists.

They talked for a while. Him demanding to know who she was and her explaining that her name was Ebony the cat and that she'd been sent by a group of chaos touched called the 'rebels' to find out what the sudden spike of energy was. Eventually they just fell to talking, Sonic listening to her stories of life hidden from everyone.

"There's hundreds of us. And the Resistance intel knows it, they don't lke to let anyone else though." She said causing him to grin and chuckle, "We all have jobs and work together like a family, that's the only way we'll make it, there's a lot of us but there's more against us."

"And you're a scout?" He asked, remembering why she was here.

She laughed softly, "They were out of scouts to do it. There's been a lot of flares lately. I record our stories and history. Haven't gotten a chance to do much of that though, no one remembers it…" She had trailed off, a softer tone to her already gentle words.

And he'd grinned, slowly sitting up in bed before leaning forward on his hands. "Have you ever heard what happened when a man called Eggman tried to conquer the South Islands?"

She shook her head and grabbed a pad of paper that someone had likely put there for when he got bored.

"Well, it all started with a young orphan in a place called Green Hill Zone-"

The hours ticked by as he went through his own childhood, the stories a turtle had told him about the great war years before, meeting the strange scientist Kintobor… all the way until after he and Knuckles had parted on good terms for the first time, even recounting ever story anyone ever told him and redrawing the murals on scraps of paper for her, each memory as if it had happened the day before. And they had, at least in his own dreams. To his credit he tried to stay as close to detail as possible, even mentioning when he failed in battle those few times. He could brag another time.

The smog outside was lightening by the time Ebony at last stood from the stool she had found and left him to sleep.

She'd returned the next night and he'd immediately jumped into the story of Metal Sonic and the Little Planet, when he got to Amy's slight knowledge with the future and magic she'd mentioned that it might be something like her own abilities. After that he'd mentioned when Eggman had stolen his shoes and he couldn't run anymore, breezing over the talk about the Labyrinth where he'd gotten trapped and nearly drowned. The rest of the time was spent talking about how Eggman woke up Chaos, and then later in the early morning hours how he'd woken up Shadow.

And again she'd left, vanishing out the window.

The next night was a bit different. Along with her usual notes, Ebony had also brought a small bag with her.

Out of it she had dragged a pair of fingerless black gloves with a green stripes going down them. To someone passing that knew the codes they would represent three things. The fact that they didn't cover his fingers would show that he was undercover, the green stripes would show that he was of the green life emerald, and the black background would show that he was a chaos master.

Next she'd pulled out a pair of shoes, and after much bribing and sweet-talk she'd managed to exchange his now to small shoes for these. They were a combination of black and grey with the same green stripe as the gloves. The grey, however; showed that he was young and learning.

Finally she'd pulled out a necklace like ones he'd seen surfers wearing when Amy dragged him to the beach. It looked like it was made out of light brown wooden beads that felt smooth to the touch.

"These are special beads made by our tech for covert missions. When you wear them you appear as a normal Mobian to the eye and machine. Others that are Chaos touched will see you when they're looking through the field though."

After he had exchanged all of his clothing for what she brought they had spent the night going over codes and signals that he needed to learn. Ebony had only left when they finally heard Doctor Quack's footsteps coming towards the door to check on him.

The next night she came was the one Doctor Quack had informed him would be his last. He was stable and would be able to resume 'normal' life soon. So when she'd walked in he had quickly given her a notebook where he had scrawled all of the stories he could think of throughout the day from his adventure in the world to king Arthur to the barely remembered rescue of Princess Elise.

Once the book was in her hands he started rattling off about the adventure that had ended the world, and began the new one. All the way until the time when feral birds should have been singing and the doctor would be coming.

And he could hear everything like he re-living it again. The blast as the machine exploded, a sound like shattering glass, before silence took over.

"I have to go now, Sonic. Your doctor is coming and I need to look in one of my books. That last story sounds something like a legend I've heard." Then she left, slipping a slip of paper into his glove before jumping out the window like every time before.

An orange beak followed by green feathers entered the room seconds later. "Sonic? Hey, you just need one more checkup than I'll have someone drive you to your siblings. They said that they have a surprise for you."


	2. blast through the past

I swear I have a good reason for taking so long. Life decided to role-play as Amy Rose and finally hit me with that hammer, I've got a trip coming up, moving... Take your pic.

So since I didn't say hi when I first started... Hi, thank you for taking time to read this story, I will try my best to make sure you don't regret it.

Onto the Drama

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><p><em>Dear Diary,<em>

_It's been over two years since I married the king now, a few months ago I had twins, Sonia and Manic. Jules found a baby at the doorstep with blue fur and black eyes. We took him in and I feel as if he's my own. _

_That's what made tonight such a nightmare. Until that night we'd had no clue what to call him, and I'm still wary to call him this. Hearing him laughing in the other room I went in to check on him. There was a black hedgehog with red streaks wearing a torn brown cloak, he had blood red eyes. The stranger was kneeling next to his crib chuckling at his antics. The baby grabbed the stranger's hand which caused more laughing. "You're gonna be a strong one aren't ya?" He asked in a terrifying, dark voice. "You'll need training though, Sonic."_

_Hearing this and fearing for Sonic I'd marched over to the crib and snatched him, backing away, before demanding who he was. He'd laughed again, deeper and darker, before replying that his name was Shadow, along with a mocking bow. He'd winked towards Sonic and said that he'd be back soon, before disappearing._

_I told Jules and he had the guards search the room. Nothing was found and one of the chaos scientists said that Shadow was probably tracking Sonic using his unique energy field. They're going to call in an expert on Energy tomorrow to see if there's any way to block this signal._

_ Your friend,_

_ Aleena. _

"His name is Shadow." Cyrus said as he handed over a thin file, it was nearly empty with only a picture of a cloaked figure from a security camera and a small record from ten years back. "I did all the digging I could find and that was it. Your mother and Sonic are the only people that have ever seen him without his cloak."

"Sonic's met him before?"

"Yes. He tried to kidnap him or something as a kid. However he is very dangerous, he's a creature called a 'chaos user' more specifically a chaos adept. We don't know why he's after Sonic nor why he won't let anyone else see him, but you two need to be on guard at all times."

Manic glanced over to his sister before the two of them came to a silent agreement and nodded, "Should we tell Sonic?" The latter asked.

Cyrus paused before, "Not right when he wakes up, a day or so after, he might know something. Speaking of, you two should go check on him. The commander says that he has the scientists working on a weapon to combat them."

Manic paused and looked towards the lion, "I thought you were one of the scientists?"

"Nah, I'm just one 'a the tech guys."

XXxxXX

He tried to remember the words, ones that Knuckles had taught to him a lifetime ago in case there was ever an emergency that required them and he wasn't around. He focused on the spiraled shell in front of him, it had held something once, it would work.

"Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart, the controller seeks to unify the chaos."

A spring of emerald green energy flowed out from his palms towards the shell (gloves having been discarded a few minutes ago) and spiraled around it in the same pattern before shooting into the inside. Feeling exhausted he pulled a black string through the hole he'd made and tied it on his neck before standing and glancing in the mirror. The sight of black eyes with a tinge of emerald in the middle and a slightly skinnier and taller body than he had had before the coma met his eyesight.

It wasn't perfect, but it would do, he had just managed to compress almost all of his energy into a shell. Knuckles would probably laugh but it was a victory in his book.

Tired the blue one collapsed into his bed feeling the cheap mattress sink under his weight, he'd have to see about ditching this thing and finding a hammock. Lacing his hands above his head and feeling his muscles relax he stretched like a cat and gave a relieved sigh.

XXxxXX (past)

The doctors had no idea what had happened, was the shocked whisper throughout the kingdom. Everytime the queen had gotten scanned she'd been revealed to have two children, now all of a sudden there'd been an announcement that there were royal triplets instead of twins. So he had left the small village that he'd been in for the past two years, now that everyone was on edge someone would notice eventually. Already Mobians with powers were feared even though they were respected, but news of his father had almost reached the town. So he left, simply planning to travel through the villages and forests. That is until news of the children came.

The youngest was a light green hedgehog with lighter fur covering his stomach and arms, when the oracle came he'd revealed that the boy would be a kind king to the people, knowing their ways and hardships. The second was a dark pink hedgehog with a small fringe of hair on top of her head, she was supposed to be a strong leader, knowing how to talk to anyone.

The eldest child was the one that stopped him from his plans. Little information was revealed for weeks after the other two, but it was eventually heard. He was a dark blue hedgehog with peach covering his stomach and arms. Already the nurse had found that she could not touch or startle him, showing proof with many scratches. The Oracle had not said much, simply that someday the boy would decide the fate of the kingdom.

This was when he'd left, often forgetting to remain anonymous in his hurry. The palace was easy to break into and soon he was standing in front of a light blue door with gold embedded in a swirling pattern. This was when he paused, red striped hand resting in the air in the middle of pushing the door open. What if he'd gotten his hopes up for nothing? When he'd turned two and finished growing was when his memory had returned, and he'd left home two years later to start searching for his friends. If he hadn't found Sonic yet than how would he find the others? Then he shook his head and opened the door, stepping in and quickly adjusting to the dim light.

The boy was sleeping in a small crib twisting and turning in his sleep as Shadow stepped into the room. It was a simple room, obviously a last minute change. He got to the crib just as the younger opened his eyes and slowly sat up.

That was wrong, no Mobian child should've been able to sit up without support yet, it had only been a month since birth. He was about to walk away when the boy grinned widely and held out his hands towards the darker hedgehog.

"Ad-oo, Ad-oo." He giggled happily as Shadow walked forward and picked him up. The familiar energy confirmed what had already been wondered. This was Sonic, defiantly the Sonic he knew.

He chuckled as the young hero squealed and buried his paws in his white chest fur. "Well if it isn't Sonic. How have you been doing?" The blue boy giggled and wagged his tail as Shadow slipped him into one arm and used the other to tickle him. "You're so tiny now. I wonder if the others are this small too." Sonic squealed in response as Shadow tickled him for a few more minutes before laying him back into the crib. "Hush now, if you get people running I'll get in trouble and have to leave." Shadow whispered. The hero looked up with black eyes showing a hint of green and grinned, waving his arms as he tried to get Shadow to pick him up again. The dark one chuckled and lowered his hand enough that Sonic could latch onto it, laughing more as he tried to squeeze the thumb as much as possible. Once again his strength was way above that of one his age usually was, "You gonna be a strong one aren't you?" He softly inquired, "But I'll have to make sure that your strength never goes towards the wrong cause, you'll need training, Sonic."

The sound of someone gasping behind him caught his ears as he spun around, brushing the tiny peach paw off of his thumb as he stood. His quills raised making him look larger than he was, before Shadow saw the source of the noise. A light purple hedgehog with darker purple hair wearing a white dress with golden accents stood at the door. It was the queen.

Dark quills smoothed back into place just as the Queen rushed past him and grabbed Sonic out of the crib, backing up and away from him once she had a good hold on the younger. "I demand to know who you are and what you're doing here with my son."

The half Mobian laughed underneath his breath, partly finding humor in the situation and partly out of anger. How dare that woman claim that Sonic was her child? She had no Chaos energy in her blood, in fact she had a different energy that would've killed Sonic had she carried him, and she smelled nothing like the boy, who still smelled of wind.

"My name is Shadow the Hedgehog, and my purpose for visiting him is mine only."

He then gave a mocking bow, something that he'd seen Sonic do to his friends when they were lazy and asked him to do something.

Ignoring the queen he looked at Sonic and grinned, watching the boy reach towards him, "I'll see you again, Sonic. For now however, good bye to the both of you." He addressed the queen as well in the end, before muttering a quiet command of 'chaos control' underneath him breath.

The next day the city was in an uproar, rumors of the eldest prince being harmed, or kidnapped than recovered, and an attack on the queen flew through the air.

A week later a price was put on his head and all 'chaos users', as they'd been dubbed, had been banished.

A couple of days after he caught a glimpse of a familiar looking human heading into the palace and soon could not feel any energy from Sonic.

One year later Julian Ivo Robotnik, with no memory of his past life as the mad doctor, launched an attack on the palace in the dead of night.

XXxxXX

"-or maybe-"

Manic suddenly stopped in his sentence and stared at the door in front of him. `They'd been planning to check on Sonic again, but now… "Do you hear anything?"

Black eyes rolled as Sonia shoved past her brother, "Sonic's probably just running in his sleep again." The door opened and Sonia paused. Sonic was standing in front of a slightly reflective window looking at himself as if it was the first time he'd seen a mirror. He would stare at his hand in the mirror before looking back at it in front of him. Afterwards he grabbed one side of his mouth and pulled, checking in the mirror what his teeth looked like. It reminded her of a movie she had snuck downstairs to watch with Bartleby before the revolution, of creatures that came from space and stole Mobian bodies to blend in.

Manic cleared his throat and Sonic jumped into the air, the next movement being almost too fast to see. After leaping into the air he'd spun in a lithe movement until he was facing them and dropped to the ground in a battle stance. Straightening up once he saw who it was.

Sonic coughed into his hand awkwardly as Sonia stepped forward.

"Sonic Hedgehog you had better have a good explanation for this!"

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><p>I just know you wanna kill me since there's so much backstory and sooo little development in the present, but I had writers block for what was gonna happen and just decided to get it over with.<p> 


	3. The world as we know it

"What happened to you?! Who was that guy?" Sonia finished, her tone losing its anger as concern, worry, and fear replaced it.

Sonic gave a small nervous smile as he stepped forward towards her, carefully as if she was a feral that he could scare away. "I'm glad you guys are alright. How've things been? Guess my nap lasted a little longer than I thought, huh?" He asked with a laugh and a wink.

"Sonic, I'm serious. What happened? Who… wait, did your voice change?" She stopped, narrowing her eyes as she came to the realization.

Sonic reached a hand back into his quills as he tapped his foot, feeling his smile falter for a second as he worked to come up with a reason. "It's probably just a side effect from that blast. Real surprising, the guy came outta nowhere!"

"So you don't know who he is?" Manic asked, cutting in before Sonia could as he watched their brother. When Sonic shook his head he continued. "Cyrus told us that he was called Shadow, he tried to kidnap ya when we were only a few months old. Guy always wears a cloak and no one's seen him. You heard of him?"

Sonic's eyes narrowed and he glared at the wall above his siblings, so Shadow had done it… 'You'd better hope you started running 'cause when I catch you you're dead, Faker.' "Not sure…" Sonic began as he walked out the door and turned, walking backwards away from them with a grin, "Now what are you two waiting for, I've been out for a week, who knows how many bases 'Botnik's built in that time."

XXxxXX

"Come on~" Shadow waved the pile of bills in front of the taller canine's face, "I'm sure this is more than your boss pays you…"

The grey wolf regarded him for a second, his blue hair was still frizzy from when the dark hedgehog had appeared earlier and surprised him and he regarded the crimson eyes with caution, "And if I do take the bribe…?"

"Robotnik will never hear of it and no harm will come. There might be a bit of destruction but I'm sure you could pin that on those pesky Freedom Fighters. I'm just trying to cause them a little trouble… I'm sure you of all people have no trouble with that."

"It is a lot of money, Sleet." Dingo mused, the large orange canine walking up behind his smaller friend and looking down at the hedgehog. "Maybe if we get enough we could buy a ticket to somewhere else."

Brown eyes flashed and the money was resting in a purple gloved hand as he dropped the keys into a white one, the idea of freedom enticing enough. "Done, the cameras will be off as soon as you step foot in the building." He gave a fanged grin towards the smaller, "It was a pleasure working with you."

Shadow nodded as he flipped his wrist, the keys vanishing in a flash of silver sparks just like how the money had appeared a while ago. "You realize that if you cross me there will be hell to pay."

"Very, your family is notorious for it."

A crimson glare was directed for the two before Shadow started up his skates and vanished, cloak covering every detail except for his eyes.

XXxxXX

'_What am I supposed to do… when everything I know has changed?_'

Knuckles looked down at the island from his place on top of the shrine, the green glow of the emerald behind him lighting up the darkening island. Earlier that day he'd woken up to a changed island and a changed body. No longer was the Emerald hidden in a dark cave filled with glowing crystals, now it was at the very center of the island on top of a large shrine. The meadows were gone, replaced with mountains, a volcano hidden in there he assumed, and an enormous forest. The Floating Island was no longer this small hunk of rock floating through the sky at a slow pace, but rather this enormous landmass that could likely hold hundreds of people, but only held one echidna and a strange glowing rock.

Small, pudgy creatures that had heads that looked like a water drop flitted around the shrine, stopping about at least once in an hour to roam up to him and pull at his arms and legs, as if trying to bring him to somewhere.

A small group came up this time, the rest apparently having given up. Their apparent leader was a dark blue creature with a light blue bulb above its head and bright green eyes. Having decided to humor them in an attempt to get some peace Knuckles got up and followed right behind the group, the blue thing chirping in happiness and running so far ahead that he thought he would lose it, before coming back and walking barely in front of him making small 'chao' noises as if in a conversation with the red one.

They led him further back into the forest, through areas he had never seen before, until reaching a beautiful crystal clear lake, with a stone arch leading into the forest, where they quieted and waited, motioning for him to do so too whenever he began to open his mouth.

A glimmer of light appeared in front of him, slowly growing in size until there was a shower of red sparks and an orange female echidna appeared, floating just above the ground. She had orange fur and dreads much like his that were circled with white bands, and was wearing a simple white shirt and a green skirt with orange and white diamonds. A golden headband with a large blue stone rested on her brow above light blue eyes and a golden crescent with a blue stone, much like his white birthmark, rested on her collarbone. Oh, she was floating too, that was important.

She smiled gently at him, blue eyes sparking with kindness. "Hello, Knuckles, it's been a while."

Purple eyes narrowed slightly and he stepped a foot back, "Who are you? How do you know my name?" Besides his grandfather he was supposed to be the only echidna alive… so who was she?

The girl gave him a slightly sad smile, "My name is Tikal, I am one of the spirits that reside in the Master Emerald. It had been years since I've been able to come out and I cannot stay long, so I must explain quickly."

Knuckles nodded and release her from his glare.

"You and the planet have been reawakened by two people, whom you need to find. Hope has been woken again and in turn has sparked a fire that is spreading; there are ten people who have woken up today to find themselves changed. One of which is Hope, who can return your memories if you can find him." She gestured to the chao at his side, "Dash here, who used to be a companion to Hope, will be your guide in finding him on the surface. You must be careful not to let your eyes or powers show, many are afraid and will try to destroy you once they find out who you are."

Amethyst eyes widened and he darted forward towards the fading echidna, "Wait! What powers? Can't you tell me more? Who's Hope?" He hand went right through the girl as she faded an apologetic expression on her face as she finally vanished.

Knuckles sighed and slumped onto the tree behind him, glaring at the small creature next to him. "Alright, Tikal said you could help me, now help me!" He barked, feeling some apprehension creep up on him.

Dash grinned up at him happily and sped off towards the ruiness arch, Knuckles quickly jumping up and following behind, feeling alarm when it disappeared as it sped through the arch. Unable to stop in time he soon found out where it had gone as he passed underneath and the ground disappeared from underneath his feet and the light faded away.

XXxxXX

_We've been picking up some weird energy signals from one of the abandoned bases, if you're feeling well enough you guys could go check it out. It should be pretty easy._ That's what Ebony, a new recon officer and informant they'd picked up a few months back, had told them before they left.

They were at the very edge of the city, far from any of Robotnik's main forces. Bringing up the question of why he would have any resources so difficult to reach. The warehouse the signal was coming from was very old, with peeling red and yellow paint and large steel doors. Stumps of several trees rested on one end while there was a very low wall built onto the wood. The doors opened easily enough and soon the three were inside, no apparent traps waiting for them.

Sonic looked around the room he was in with curiosity, it was empty and small, smelling of motor oil and electricity. He paced around the edges, wary of traps and alarms, before a clanging sound met his ears. Curiously he picked up his foot and set it down again, the same _Clang!_ from before echoing in the area. Using his sneaker he scuffed at the floor until a metal plate was visible, then an embedded handle.

The blue hero looked around, wondering whether he should call the others before pushing the idea away, he could handle this on his own.

The floor opened and he made his way down carefully, metal stairs rusted and corroded and the wooden railing so old and splintered that he couldn't touch it.

The room was dark and the strangely familiar smell was much stronger now. Plain white, dust covered sheets formed strange shapes in the dark. He walked forward towards the largest one and yanked it off, stumbling back in shock as he saw what lay underneath it, breath coming in gasps as he tried to get control of himself again.

This was impossible! It couldn't be… it'd had been years…

XXxxXX

They'd separated a while ago, Sonic heading towards the back, Sonia up some stairs she'd found, and he'd gone towards the front rooms.

The floor underneath his feet was covered in dust and moth eaten carpet, misplaced dust likely from strong winds that would make their way inside. Manic stepped through one of the doors and felt his confusion grow. The floor had changed to tiles and cupboards lined the walls, two strange square metal machines set into one of the walls. On the other side was a large refrigerator, like he'd seen in HQ and noble's houses. A counter was set up on the other side of the room, three stools that rust was starting to set in on.

In curiosity he opened the fridge and looked in, whatever food had once been in there was long gone, replaced by a rancid odor, and small metal cylinders. The green hedgehog grabbed one and shook it, hearing liquid sloshing around in it, before finding a metal tab on the top and pulling at it. The prince froze in his spot as liquid erupted from the can in a large spray, before sheepishly setting it back in the fridge.

He looked over to the counter and felt like someone was there, laughter echoing as two other people talked in another language to each other.

Shaking his head Manic backed out of the kitchen, this didn't seem like a Robotnik base at all.

XXxxXX

The room once was an orange-yellow color, but had faded to gray over the years. Rusted tools and time-eaten books were scattered on the floor along with the better preserved blueprints. A small bed rested in one of the corners with the sheets tangled up as if someone had gotten up quickly and left.

Sonia sighed and left the room, traveling into the next one. It looked like the walls had once been brown and a broken hammock hung from the ceiling. There was a pile of old pillows below the window on a simple half-couch. A small bookcase filled with old leather-bound (and she really hoped it was feral) books that had stood up to the time rather well.

Walking over she glanced at the titles, 'Knight of the Wind', 'The Secret Rings', and 'Artemous Fowl' were only a few of them. Whoever had lived here seemed to have been an avid fiction reader.

She glanced over the walls which she had bypassed only a few minutes beforehand. Faded yellow pictures in dusty frames hung on the walls and she felt some terror grip her.

Nearly everyone was smiling or laughing, or in a few cases with the weirdest expression ever, but all of them had colored eyes. Every single one of them was a chaos user.

She backpedaled with a speed she personally thought would have impressed even Sonic.

After hitting something once she was downstairs she spun and felt relief to see Manic looking at her, "We need to leave." He muttered, "This place is too weird."

XXxxXX

His eyes first saw the gray nose with a simple propeller on it, before seeing the larger red body and gray bi-wings, and he knew what it was even before he saw the name. This was his plane, this was the Tornado.

Someone had been here before him though; there were footsteps in the dust which he hadn't noticed before leading up to the plane.

Sonic stepped forward and looked inside, feeling his heart pounding in his hands as adrenalin overtook him. It was… a watch?

All that lay on the seat was a simple, triangular watch. Very high tech now a days, but something that would've been barely out of place before.

Carefully he reached in and picked it up, feeling his feet dangle on the ground and cursing his height as he grasped it in his hand and leaned back. It glowed bright green for a moment before floating in the air and flying towards him. There was a flash of light and a clicking noise before he noticed that the watch was now attached to his wrist… and refusing to come off.

In anger and slight panic he slammed it against the body of the Tornado and it glowed, a familiar hologram appeared in front of him and he felt himself calm slightly. Red eyes looked back at him from dark fur and a slight smirk played on the tan muzzle.

"H_ello Sonic. I'm glad you made it this far. Once this message has played you will not have long before the alarms and cameras turn back on so I'll tell you quickly. This watch has a tracker in it and a map of the area, along with a few other features that I'm sure you'll find helpful. Through returning your memory the others also were changed and woken up, but with no memory. You'll have to try and trigger them_." The hologram went through an explanation of the watch's features and how they worked along with explaining how to track down the others using it. "_If you're in danger and need help just call and I'll come, but be careful. The Resistance is no longer your friend and Eggman will regain his memory soon with or without your help. Now… Run_."

The alarms blared around him, growing louder and louder as the hologram faded, he cursed underneath his breath as he covered up the plane and pushed it towards the launch bay, right underneath the doors where it would be easy to reach, before running up the stairs towards his siblings.

He grabbed one hand each and towed them along as he felt the ground shake underneath his feet as Eggman's sentry bots began to come.

* * *

><p>yaiofan: I will don't worry. I'm truthfully not sure what the couples will be yet, there's one I know for sure but I don't want to give it away. I'm not sure what the relationship between Sonic and Shadow will be. Brother-like or something, kinda leaning more towards romantic<p>

CrazyNinjagoFan1: That's great to hear! It's supposed to be a bit confusing for now


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